4 Essential Desert Landscaping Ideas

Photo by Thomas J. Story

Useful strategies to adapt to the unique landscaping considerations of a desert garden

Sunset

Wherever a desert landscape gardener finds herself—in southern Nevada or California, in Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas—she is working with a very special mixture of soil, water, sunlight, air, cold, and heat that offers challenges and unusual opportunities.

The challenges are often dramatic and therefore frequently mentioned. The desert is hot. The desert is windy. The desert is dry. True, It is all of these things and more. But if you let yourself be inspired by your surroundings and forego any attempts to create an east coast or non-desert landscape design, deserts actually provide fantastic opportunities to show off regionally appropriate design. One fantastic example, seen here, is this Phoenix, Arizona front yard. The owners ditched the non-desert adapted lawn and replaced the area with drought-tolerant desert grasses and young trees. A sleek hardscape of concrete pavers leads the way to the door.